Clip installing tool



Nov. 18, 1969 N. R. BRowN E'rAL` 3,478,405

CLIP INSTALLING TOOL Filed Sept. 7, 196'? 2 Sheets-Sheetl l Nov. 18, 1969 N. R. BRowN ETAL 3,478,405

CLIP INSTALLING TOOL Filed Sept. '7, 1967 2 ShEelLS-Sheell 2 i l l I (laws-7132 w :E W

INVENTORS United States Patent O 3,478,405 CLIP INSTALLING TOOL Norman R. Brown, Pontiac, Mich., Michael J. Martin, Jr., Somerville, NJ., and Donald Stanner, Warren, Mich., assignors to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Sept. 7, 1967, Ser. No. 666,014 Int. Cl. B23p 1 9/ 04; B23q 7/10 U.S. Cl. 29--212 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE 2 Claims Our invention relates to power tools for installing fasteners, and particularly to a tool for installing reveal molding clips of the type which engage and are held by a headed stud extending from the windshield frame of an automobile or the like.

In many automobile windshield and rear window installations, the fixed glass is mounted in a sheet metal frame defined by the body structure. A number of headed studs are welded to the sheet metal of the frame so as to project generally parallel to the plane of the glass. Clips are fitted onto these studs for initially locating the glass, which is retained by a plastic cement, and to retain the ornamental trim frame called a reveal molding which extends around the margin of the glass.

The principal object of our invention is to provide a tool which will expedite and make less laborious and unpleasant the task of fitting the clips to the studs. A more general object of our invention is to provide an improved power operated fastener driving equipment of economical, reliable, and rapid-acting character.

The nature of our invention and the advantages thereof will be clear to those skilled in the art from the succeeding detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and the accompanying drawings thereof.

FIGURE l is a side elevation of a tool according to our invention with parts cut away and in section.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the same on the plane indicated by the line 2 2. in FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a partial front elevation view of the tool taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 4 is a partial sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 4-4 in FIGURE l.

FIGURE 5 is a view similar to FIGURE 1 illustrating the completion of the clip installing stroke of the tool.

FIGURE 6 is an enlargement of a portion of FIG- URE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the plane indicated by the line 7--7 in FIGURE 5.

Referring first to FIGURE 1, the clip installing tool includes a body 9 which has a handle 10 and mounts a reciprocable ram 11 in the form of a piston rod which is moved by power means 13 including a piston 14 connected to the ram and a cylinder 15 in which the piston moves. The cylinder is retained by a threaded head 16. A number of clips 17 are held in a magazine 18` from which they are delivered through a chute 19` to the installing apparatus. As the clips slide through the chute,

ice

they engage and are stopped by the stop arm 21 which is yieldably mounted in position to be engaged by a hammer 22 mounted on the ram 11. A guide 23 fixed to the body of the tool is in position to engage the body panel and locate the tool with respect to the stud on which the clip is to be fitted. Air enters the handle through a connection 25 from which it is supplied to a valve 26 of suitable structure, the details of which are not illustrated, which is operated by a trigger 27 to cause the ram to be actuated from its retracted position to its projected position to install the clip. The power means comprising the ram 11, piston 14, and cylinder 15 is a standard commercial article. The cylinder is stepped and the piston is of differential area so that air pressure may be maintained on the forward or smaller face of the piston and actuation is controlled by admitting compressed air to and releasing it from the rear face.

The clip magazine 1-8 is retained in a trough-like sheet metal support 29 which is screwed to bosses 30 on the body 9. The magazine 18, as shown most clearly in FIG- URE 7, is a rectangular tubular body having a central wall 33 which divides it into two tracks for the clips. When one track of the magazine is emptied, it is removed and inverted so that the two tracks are used in succession.

Referring to FIGURES 2, 6, and 7, each clip comprises a web 34 of roughly rectangular outline having a flange 35 at its forward edge and being somewhat rounded at its rear edge. A loop 37 extending from the forward part of the body is provided to hook around a stud and a stud tab 38 is adapted to overlie the head of the stud and to bear against the stud to retain the clip on the stud. A tab 39 engages the reveal molding. Two ears 40 extending from the side of the web are received in notches in the side of the tracks in the magazine. It will be noted that the web of the clip is generally arched so that the center of the web bears against the body panel 41 when the loop 37 and tab 38 engage the headed stud 43.

When the magazine is in place on its support, one end of the magazine engages a block 44 at the rear end of the magazine and the forward end of the magazine is retained by a spring clip or detent 46. An air line 47 connected between the body of the tool and the block 44 supplies a small flow of air continuously to the rear end of the lower track of the magazine so as to bias or push the clips towar-d the front of the magazine and the driver.

The front or driving end of the tool includes what may be called a nose made up of two parts, preferably of suitable plastic material such as the acetal resin sold under the name Delrin. One of the parts is the guide block 23, and the other is a clip chute block 50. These two blocks have semicylindrical recesses at the end adjacent the cylinder, the recess in guide block 23 being in the upper surface and that in chute block 50 in the lower surface. These are held in place on the tool by being clamped together around a cylindrical nose 51 extending from the forward head of cylinder 15. The two blocks are held assembled by four socket head cap screws 53 extending through the lower block 23 and threaded into the upper block 50. Sheet metal shims 54 are provided at the interface between the two blocks to assure a tight fit on the nose 51 without undue stress in the plastic parts.

The ram 11 projects from the nose 51 into a recess 55 of rectangular configuration defined between the two blocks. The hammer 22 is fixed to the forward end of the ram and secured by a transverse pin 57. It thus reciprocates in a trough in the upper surface of guide block 23 and below the lower surface of block 50. As appears most clearly in FIGURE 4, the clip chute block has a trough 0r track 58 in its upper surface which includes a lateral portion adapted to receive the ears 40 of the clips 17.

The clip chute 19 is completed by a chute cover plate 59 fixed to the upper surface of block 50 by screws 61. This plate S9 is forked, with a slot 62 in its leading edge which provides clearance -for a clip detent leaf spring 63 mounted on top of plate 59 by screws 61.

The stop arm 21 of Delrin is pivotally mounted in a slot 65 in the block 23 by a hinge pin 66. It is biased upwardly towards the position shown in FIGURE 1 by a leaf spring 67, fixed by screws to the rear part of block 23.

The hammer 22 is of generally rectangular outline, but it has a transverse trough 68 (FIGURE 6) in its upper surface and a longitudinal trough or recess 69 in its upper surface so that the two forward corners of the hammer are defined by lugs 70 adapted to engage the flange 35 of the clip, the longitudinal troughs 69 providing clearance for the stud tab 38. The forward lower surface of the hammer 22 is inclined to provide a cam 71 adapted to engage the stop 21 and move it out of the way as the hammer moves forward. The stop 21 is formed at its forward end to provide a longitudinally extending ridge 73 at each side. A seat 74 for the end of clip detent spring 63 is provided between the two ridges.

When the hammer is retracted and the clips are urged rforward by the air flow through the magazine, the foremost clip 17 rides down the track in the chute block 50 under the cover plate 59, and stops when it engages the upper surface of stop 21, the forward edge of the clip at this time being in engagement with the detent spring 63, as illustrated in FIGURE 1. When the trigger 27 is actuated, the ram 11 moves forward rapidly. Describing the operation sequentially, it engages the fiange 35 of the clip with the lugs 70 of the hammer, and at the same time engages the stop arm 21; the cam surface 71 on the hammer engaging the arm 21 to force it downwardly. The clip rides forward, supported on the forward end of the hammer 22 under spring 63, with the stud tab 38 of the clip riding between the lugs 70. The tool is properly spaced from the panel 42 by the locating bosses 75 on the guide block 23. As the hammer moves forward, the clip moves so that the loop 37 ts around the stud 43 and between the head of the stud and the panel. T he body of the clip bears against the panel so that the clip is slightly compressed and is shake-free. The stud tab 38 overlies the end of the stud and a detent 76 (FIGURE 6) on this tab engages the stud to lock the clip against sliding back off of the stud. During this operation, the next clip in the magazine slides down the chute until it engages the fiat upper surface 78 of the hammer which retains it temporarily between this surface and the chute cover plate 59. When the trigger 27 is released, air pressure in the forward end of the cylinder retracts the hammer to the position illustrated in FIGURE l, and the stop 21 is allowed to move back into its normal position where it retains the foremost clip 17 in position to be engaged by the hammer in the next cycle of operation. Thus, to set each clip, it is only necessary to put the driving tool in place with the bosses 75 of the guide block against the panel at each side of the stud and operate the trigger. Operation is fast and easy. The machine may, of course, be turned on its side or inverted as needed to suit the stud orientation.

The detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention for the purpose of explaining the principles thereof is not to be considered as limiting the invention, since many modifications may be made by the exercise of skill in the art.

What is claimed is:

1. A tool for installing a clip having a web, a leading edge ange, and a loop adapted to couple the clip to a headed stud extending from a panel, the tool comprising, in combination,

a body,

a ram reciprocably mounted on the body,

power means to reciprocate the ram between a retracted position and a projected position,

clip supply means including a delivery chute adapted to feed the clips through the chute leading edge first,

yieldably mounted stop means including means to bias the stop means into position to intercept the clips at a driving position at the outlet of the chute,

a hammer on the ram having a leading edge adapted to engage the clip at the driving position at the junction of the` web and flange as the hammer moves from retracted position toward projected position,

cooperating cam means on the ram and the stop means adapted to displace the stop means laterally of the direction of motion of the hammer away from the clip upon engagement of the clip by the hammer,

the hammer including means to locate the clip laterally adapted to straddle the loop and to straddle the stud as the clip moves onto the stud,

and means to block entry of a succeeding clip into driving position operative while the ram is adjacent its projected position.

2. A tool for installing a formed sheet metal clip onto a stud extending from a panel, the tool comprising, in combination,

a body including a handle,

a ram reciprocably mounted on the body,

power means to reciprocate the ram between a retracted position and a projected position,

clip supply means including a magazine and a delivery chute adapted to feed the clips through the chute leading edge first,

the delivery chute extending toward the path of the ram at an acute angle to the direction of projection of the ram,

yieldably mounted stop means including means to bias the stop means into position to intercept the clips at a driving position at the outlet of the chute,

a hammer on the ram having a leading edge adapted to engage the clip at the driving position as the hammer moves from retracted position toward projected position,

cooperating cam means on the ram and the stop means adapted to displace the stop means laterally of the direction of motion of the hammer away fro-m the clip upon engagement of the clip by the hammer,

the hammer including means to locate the clip laterally of the direction of motion as the clip moves onto the stud,

the ram including means to block entry of a succeeding clip into driving position operative while the ram is adjacent its projected position, and

guide means fixed on the body adapted engage the panel so as to guide the hammer and clip relative to the stud.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner U.S. Cl, X.R. 

